I got to watch Pan's Labyrinth last night, and I was as impressed with it as I was with The Devil's Backbone. The Eater of Children was frightening, or maybe I should say disturbing. The ending wasn't a surprise, but then in fairy tales it really never is. Del Toro is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors.

I kinda like how the Faun ended up asking Ofelia for the same thing the Captain was asking people for: Unquestioned Obedience.

The Captain made for a great villain in the movie. One of the first times in a long time I felt a deep hatred for the bad guy during a movie, rather than wanting to see him come out the victor or just feeling nothing.

The woman working the counter at the local video store told me that the movie was subtitled and asked if I was okay with that. That made me wonder just how many people came back to the store returning the movie complaining that they wanted to watch a movie, not read a book.

Yeah, it's hard to believe that's still happening. Here the DVD of "Letters from Iwo Jima" features a prominent sticker "warning" people it is a subtiltled film. Yawn. And I still have friends who will refuse to watch anything with subtitles.

At least I won the battle of widescreen thanks to http://www.widescreen.org/ They made the effort as soon as they saw with their own eyes they were watxching only 50% of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. I recommend you to pay a visit to that page, even if you already watch everything in widescreen, it's amazing to see the difference.

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Due to the horrifying nature of this film, no one will be admitted to the theatre.

I wonder if it's a US thing, because I do know people who get grouchy at the thought of listening to something in a language they don't know while reading subtitles. It might be because most of us don't travel often outside this country and so don't learn even a small amount of other languages. Or we could just be lazy.

Dubbing Pan's Labyrinth would ruin the Faun IMO, because his voice was one of the best features. Plus I can't stand dubbing.

I kinda like how the Faun ended up asking Ofelia for the same thing the Captain was asking people for: Unquestioned Obedience.

That is a really good point and one I'd missed. The film is very complex at times; I'm sure that it will take me a couple of viewings to catch many of the nuances that escaped me. The Captain was a down right bastard the whole time. I was happy that Mercedes said what she did, at the very end. The look on his face was priceless.

Subtitled films never bother me and I've always loved the original widescreen versions. Over the years, I have convinced a number of people (Katie included) that they shouldn't be watching cropped versions of movies. When we finally upgrade our TV, I plan on getting a widescreen one.

I wonder if it's a US thing, because I do know people who get grouchy at the thought of listening to something in a language they don't know while reading subtitles. It might be because most of us don't travel often outside this country and so don't learn even a small amount of other languages. Or we could just be lazy.

Dubbing Pan's Labyrinth would ruin the Faun IMO, because his voice was one of the best features. Plus I can't stand dubbing.

It's the same here in spain. I'm told other European countries get their foreign (even American) films subtitled, but here everything released is dubbed. In bigger cities you can choose between dubbed or subtitled copies when you go to the theatre, but it is a rarity to find subtitled films in smaller cities like mine.

It's ironic you mention the Faun voice, as he is played by an American actor, Doug Jones, and hence is dubbed in all versions.

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Ha! I hadn't thought about that. If I'm not mistaken, I seem to remember reading an article saying that Jones also played the "children eater" in the film.

You're right....I just went to IMDB, and Doug Jones did indeed play both characters. His accent was excellent then, at least to my ears.

About the father figures in the movie......she did seem to think that to be a good daughter, she had to be 100% obedient. I'm wondering, was that because of the period she grew up in or was the Faun that demanding because her stepfather was?

It was the period. My granny is only 10 years older in comparison (she's 91 now) and her education was very strict, compared to today's standards. She's lived through way more flexible times, but she still thinks children must never disagree with their parents, not even if they are over 60, as my father is.

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Due to the horrifying nature of this film, no one will be admitted to the theatre.

I liked it, but I guess I was expecting more from the Guillermo del Toro who as a rule has made some good films. It wasn't a bad film but I can't pin it down ... something was missing. Still fun to watch though, love those fantasy type stuff.